Good Eats: A Valentine Treat

When we were in college, my husband and I used to get these angel food cake "tacos" stuffed with a whipped cream and strawberries, at the student union.  They were irresistible and I've never seen them anywhere since.  As a special valentine's surprise, I wanted to recreate those strawberries and cream desserts for my man.  I found this recipe which is all the same ingredients, but just a different format.  A strawberries and cream angel food cake roll.  YUM.
*this is NOT vegan and NOT gluten free, like most of our recipes in the past have been.

This recipe is directly from the Brown Eyed Baker (seen HERE), photos are my own.

INGREDIENTS:

For the cake:

9 egg whites1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

¾ teaspoon cream of tartar1 cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

¾ cup cake flour

For the filling:

2 cups heavy whipping cream, chilled

6 tablespoons powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups diced strawberries

1 tablespoon powdered sugar

Powdered sugar, for dusting top of cake (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place the egg whites in a large mixing bowl; let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, line a 15x10-inch baking pan with waxed paper; lightly coat paper with cooking spray and set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

3. Add vanilla and cream of tartar to egg whites; beat on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, on high until stiff glossy peaks form and sugar is dissolved. Fold in flour, ¼ cup at a time.

4. Carefully spread batter into prepared pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Cool for 5 minutes.

5. Dust a clean kitchen towel with 1 tablespoon powdered sugar. Turn the cake out onto the kitchen towel. Gently peel off waxed paper. Roll up cake in the towel jelly-roll style, starting with a short side. Cool completely on a wire rack.

4. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, beat the cream on medium speed until it begins to thicken. Add powdered sugar and vanilla; increase the speed to medium-high and beat until soft peaks form. Gently fold in the strawberries. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

5. Unroll cooled cake; spread filling to within ½-inch of edges (you will have some filling leftover). Roll up again. Place seam side down on a serving plate; sprinkle with additional powdered sugar, if desired. Serve with any leftover strawberries and cream filling. Store leftovers, covered with plastic wrap, in the refrigerator. 

Heart shaped measuring spoons are reason enough to bake something for Valentine's Day!

Key to a successful angel food cake-- beat it till you get stiff peaks.  

The filling-- homemade whipped cream (my first successful attempt!) and fresh strawberries.

My family approves!  The perfect sweet treat for your Valentine.

xo

Jayme

Good Eats: Vegan (and Gluten Free) Poutine

The cold weather puts me in the mood to cook...and eat.  Especially comfort foods.  I keep a pretty large collection of  recipes on my vegan Pinterest board, and when I saw a recipe for Vegan Poutine, I was intrigued. It looked like something ooey and gooey and delicious. But I actually had no idea what it was.

I learned that poutine is a dish originating in Quebec, and it's basically:  french fries with cheese curds and gravy.  If that doesn't sound good to you, I might call you crazy.

I modified this recipe for the gravy and we cheated by using frozen oven fries (which, to me, made no difference at all). And this is my favorite guilty-pleasure vegan dish I've made yet.

Vegan Poutine
adapted from The Vegan Cookbook Afficionado

INGREDIENTS
16 oz. bag of oven fries, any style
(or you can look at the original recipe and bake oven fries yourself!)

GRAVY
1 onion, diced
3 cups of water
1 t liquid smoke
2 t (vegan) worcestershire sauce
3 t NO-CHICKEN broth powder
2 T Earth Balance margarine
2 T flour (use cornstarch or arrowroot to make it gluten free!)
2 T brown sugar

1/4 c. cubed jack-style cheese (we used Daiya)*
1/2 c. shredded vegan cheese (we used Trader Joe's new shredded, which I LOVE!)*

*And if you're not so sure about veganism (vegan cheese?!), well you can still make this an easy Meatless Monday dish using milk-based cheese.  But I promise, once this gets all melty, you won't think you are eating anything other than pure goodness. So give it a try!

DIRECTIONS

(Get your fries in the oven so they're ready once the gravy is done!)

1.  Saute onion with 2-3 teaspoons of oil until they begin to brown. Add water, broth powder, Worcestershire sauce and liquid smoke. Simmer over low hear until reduced to about 2 cups.
NOTE:  if you are not a fan of cooked onions, at this point, you can strain the onions and all of their liquid out or put the whole thing in a blender for a strong onion-flavored gravy (then return to pan).  I kept the cooked onions and loved the texture/flavor they added!

2.  While the base is simmering, in a large skillet, melt margarine over medium-high heat. Add flour and brown sugar, mixing to form a paste.

3. Stir flour mixture constantly until it's a nice bubbly, rich brown color.

4. Slowly add flour mixture to broth mixture, whisking between each addition.

5.  Turn hear back to medium-high and bring the mixture to a boil.  Then reduce heat to bring it back to a simmer. Whisk constantly to allow gravy to thicken.

6. Once gravy looks thick (begins to get a coating on edges of pan), you're ready!

TO SERVE POUTINE:
Add fries to a large bowl (we loved eating it communal-style!).  Top fries with both kinds of cheese, then ladle desired amount of gravy over the top (we added A LOT). and let the cheese melt beneath. Then it's time to dig in!

I am salivating just looking at this photo.

This also made a ton more gravy than even we could eat, so you can save this extra to add to mashed potatoes or biscuits or something later in the week!

You could adapt this recipe many ways by re-flavoring the gravy (maybe try a mushroom version or, like the recipe mine was inspired by, use Beef-less broth powder, or even sweet onions instead of red/yellow onions) or changing up the cheese (pepperjack would add a nice spiciness, and I'd love to try it with a cheddar-style shredded cheese!).

I have a feeling this may become a winter food staple in our house...but no more than twice a month. This stuff is rich--but oh-so-good.  Let me know if you try it!

Also, it's Meatless Monday, so I'm back to instagramming my day of food. Find me on IG @mandamiska.

xo,
Amanda

Good Eats: Gluten Free Xmas Cookies

Personally, I like to use gluten free recipes that are naturally without wheat--not ones that are full of wheat flour substitutes.  Sometimes they are great, but often I can detect weird aftertastes or off textures.  Not to mention, those fava bean, tapioca, potato starch, rice, etc. flours are pricey!
So, without further ado, here are my favorite gluten free cookies.  NO FLOUR involved!

reindeer belly buttons, peanut butter blossoms, monster cookies

1.  Reindeer Belly Buttons (or pretzel m&m turtles, or reindeer treats, or whatever you want to call them!).  This one's easy.  

Ingredients:

gluten free pretzels (I promise, this is one gluten free substitute that tastes exactly like the real deal!  Snyder's makes the best ones.)

caramel hershey kisses (these might not be okay for full blown Celiac's.  Read here for more info.)

m&m's 

Simply lay all your pretzels on a baking sheet, place a hershey kiss on top, pop in the oven at 275 degrees for a few minutes then pull them out and press in the m&m.

2.  Peanut Butter Blossoms --These were always a favorite of mine growing up.  

I found this recipe from Gluten Free Girl and The Chef for peanut butter cookies.  Just sugar, peanut butter, baking powder and egg!  

Just follow that recipe verbatim and then instead of pressing them with a fork, press in your hershey kiss.  So good.

3.  Monster Cookies  a.k.a.  oatmeal cookies with m&m's and chocolate chips (again, I feel like I should disclose--oats are controversial for Celiac's, as most oats are grown in fields next to wheat fields and can be cross contaminated.  Check your package!)

I can't take credit for this recipe at all--I found it here at Cooking with my Kid.  But I will give this advice:  this recipe makes a TON of dough.  So either cut it in half, or form all your dough balls, bake what you want, and then lay all the rest on cookies sheets. Place in the freezer and once frozen put them in ziplock bags and back in the freezer.  You can just grab some out of the freezer and pop them in oven if you have people coming over!  I only bake as many as we want to last us a couple days and freeze the rest.  The more freshly baked, the better they taste!

Enjoy!

xo

Jayme

**I see a lot of tweets/facebook snark about how people who eat gluten free and/or organic don't need to announce it to everyone.  Well, the organic thing, FINE.  But the gluten free thing is something that needs put out there because, well, if you have a gluten intolerance and you accidently (or purposefully) consume gluten, you GET SICK.  I'm usually embarrassed to have to say anything and I don't think it's cool to eat gluten free.  It is just something I have to do so my intestines don't explode.  Thankyouverymuch.  (end rant)

Good Eats: Favorite Vegan Substitutes

It's the last Meatless Monday before Thanksgiving, so you might have assumed I'd have a bunch of Thanksgiving recipes for you, but the truth is: I'm still working on my menu!  I am trying to eat really well the next three days in anticipation of the inevitable gorging happening at our (two) Thanksgiving meals at the end of the week.  So today I am sharing my favorite easy vegan substitutes, for anyone who might consider going a day (or a week...or a month) as a vegan!

Milk: I have found this to the the easiest replacement ever, since I mostly use milk on cereal or in recipes. I love Blue Diamond's new Almond/Coconut blend.
Eggs:  You can't use this for a scrambled egg (unfortunately), but Ener-G Egg Replacer is perfect for baked goods.
Butter:  Earth Balance has so many great varieties, but we have been using their Soy-free spread. Great for cooking, spreading on toast, baking, etc.
Cheese: I still haven't found an acceptable eat-in-large-chunks vegan cheese (though that's probably a good thing for my waistline), but Daiya is my favorite meltable vegan shredded cheese.

Sour Cream: I honestly can't even tell the difference! I use Toffuti Sour Supreme with my tacoes/burritos/bean bowls.
Sausages:  I could live on Field Roast's Apple Sage sausages--even if I was still a carnivore.
Mayo:  Another condiment where I can't tell the difference. I make a quick and easy sriracha mayo with this Vegenaise (1 T mayo, 1 t agave syrup, 1 t sriracha). But be careful--it's addicting!
Burgers:  Because sometimes you just need a burger...and these beefless ones by Gardein really fill the void (of your mouth).

I can find all of these easily between Whole Foods and MOM's Organic Market (and most of them also in the organic/natural section of the larger, mainstream grocery stores like Giant and Safeway).

What do you think you would find the hardest replacement for you to go vegan? 

I'm instagramming my food again (@mandamiska) for Meatless Monday, so come check it out (in a bit...breakfast is about to go on the stove as I finish this post!)

xo,
Amanda

Good Eats: Vegan Junk Food

Do a quick word association for VEGAN.

You'll probably come up with something like this: vegetables, PETA, meatless, yoga, kale, fit...and so forth.

I am vegan. I'm not a PETA member, nor do I do yoga. I'm also not super trim and sinewy like many figureheads for veganism. I do eat a lot of vegetables. And I love me some kale. But sometimes, you have a craving that a crunchy, leafy veggie can't fulfill. If you're anything like me, sometimes you need some comfort food.

These are some surprisingly vegan junk foods--no animal products! But they're not super nutritious either. Everything in moderation. Next time you want a snack, why not try one of these tasty vegan treats? You may already have some of them in your cupboard!

I am a reformed cheese lover, but the adjustment wasn't that bad. However, I'm thankful that Sour Patch Kids are animal-free. I'm not sure what I'd do, as I practically lived on those (and Coke slushies!) while I was pregnant! ha.

But for a healthier, heartier sweet treat (that's still ABSOLUTELY comfort food!), I have a quick recipe for you today. It's perfect for those chilly fall and winter mornings--and you can even make it if you're in a hurry to get out the door--prep and cook in 5 minutes or less. (Thank you, microwave technology!)

Quick "Baked" Apples
Serves 1

Ingredients
1 medium apple, chopped into small pieces (Granny Smith is my favorite!)
1 T Earth balance or other vegan butter substitute
1-2 T pure maple syrup
1 t cinnamon
1 T chopped nuts (optional--I love pecans or walnuts!)

Directions
1. Chop apple and put into microwave-safe dish. Top with Earth Balance, cinnamon, and syrup.

2. Place in microwave and cook on high 2-3 minutes (firmer or larger apples will need more time), until apples are soft.

3. Stir apple mixture and top with your favorite nuts.

It's like eating apple pie, but it's gluten free, healthier, and ten times faster!  Sometimes, I make this mixture and add it to quick oats/oatmeal as well, for an even heartier start to the day.

I hope you'll give it a try...as well as try to go meatless today (or one other day this week!). This post made  hungry, so I'm off to make something yummy! Don't forget to follow me (@mandamiska) on IG to see what else I'm eating today for Meatless Monday!

xo,
Amanda

Good Eats: Vegan and Gluten Free Stuffed Peppers

Oh, hello Meatless Monday!  I get really excited about cooking these days, and I'm very excited to share an easy, favorite vegan recipe (that's gluten free too!). This recipe is a staple in our kind diet once it gets chilly outside. It tastes rich, but it's super healthy.  Go veggies!

Southwestern Style Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
*vegan *gluten free
Serves 4

Ingredients
4 medium bell peppers, with tops removed and chopped
3/4 c. quinoa
1 medium sweet onion
2 T. olive oil
2 t. minced garlic
1 15 oz. can fire-roasted tomatoes with chiles, drained (but reserve the juice for cooking!)
1T cumin
1t. salt (I used smoked sea salt for extra flavor)
1/4 c. nutritional yeast (optional)
1 c. Daiya or other vegan cheese
2 Southwest-style vegan burgers (I used Gardein's Chipotle Black Bean burgers--GF folks, check the box to make sure your burger is GF!)

Directions:

1. Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and pepper tops and cook 5 minutes, or until soft. Add cumin and garlic, and sauté 1 minute. Stir in drained tomatoes. Cook 5 minutes, or until most of liquid has evaporated.

2. Stir in quinoa, nutritional yeast, and 2 cups water. Cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 20 minutes, or until quinoa is tender.  

3. While quinoa is cooking, microwave the 2 burgers via directions on box.  Add crumbled burgers 1/2 c. of cheese to cooked quinoa/veggies and mix well. Season with salt.

4. Preheat oven to 350°F. Pour leftover liquid from tomatoes in bottom of baking dish. Fill each bell pepper with heaping quinoa mixture, and place in baking dish.  Cover with foil, and bake 1 hour.

5.   Uncover, and sprinkle each pepper evenly with  remaining cheese. Bake 15 minutes more, or until tops of stuffed peppers are browned. Let stand 5 minutes. 

6. DIG IN!

This is a meal even a meat-lover can enjoy!  Hearty, rich and comforting with a touch of spice. You can also use this basic recipe and mix it up:  for an Italian pepper, use basic fireroasted tomatoes (no chiles), omit the cumin and replace with Italian seasoning, add an additional teaspoon of garlic, use a beef-style vegan burger, and melt a mozzerella-style cheese on top!

You can follow along with me on Instagram (@mandamiska) to see what else I'm eating today...and also probably cute pictures of Aurora and lots of gratuitous photos of myself pretending like I'm not taking a gratuitous photo of myself.  ;)

xo,
Amanda

Good Eats: Gluten Free (and Vegan!) Granola Bars

As we grow and expand this blog, we'll be adding some more of our everyday lives.  Amanda and I both love cooking and we both have unique "diets" (mine being gluten free and hers being vegan), so we are always creating and searching for new recipes. We'll be sharing some of our favorites here and there.  Hope you like it!

I love sweet breakfasts--pancakes, pastries, muffins....I've even been known to wake up and dive into a chocolate bar first thing in the morning.  Being gluten free doesn't mean that I can't have all those things, but the gluten free versions are a lot more pricey and not always as yummy.  These granola bars are gluten free--but without any weird (expensive) substitutes.  Six simple ingredients for a perfect grab and go, gluten free, and vegan breakfast or snack.

INGREDIENTS:
4 cups gluten free cereal (I chose rice krispies--the new Gluten Free ones!)
1 cup dried cranberries
1 1/2 cups slivered almonds
1 cup dark chocolate chips 
1 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup light corn syrup

step ONE

Melt together corn syrup and peanut butter in small saucepan.  Let heat for 5 minutes, until smooth.

step TWO

Mix together rice krispies, dried cranberries, almonds and chocolate chips.  Stir in peanut butter/corn syrup mixture.

step THREE

Pour into a GREASED cookie sheet and flatten with a spoon (be sure to get it pressed in really well, so that the bars stay together).

step FOUR

Cut into bars, sized to your liking/appetite! ( I cut mine into about 20 pieces.) Individually wrap in plastic wrap. 

*To keep these granola bars nice and fresh, keep a few days worth out and put the rest in a ziplock bag in the freezer and thaw out as you need them.

These bars are the perfect amount of chewiness and crunch!  A little healthier than a candy bar and definitely a great way to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Also, it's Meatless Monday!  We hope to share recipes each Monday, and Amanda is instagramming her food throughout the day, every Monday, so you can get some ideas for how to go meatless (even one day a week makes  HUGE impact--read all about it here!) You can follow along with her @mandamiska on Instagram!

xo
Jayme